Pakistan detains top Qaeda man

3 held in joint mission with US

Younis al-Mauritani’s arrest — made public five days before the 10-year anniversary of the 9/11 attacks — was seen as damaging al-Qaeda’s central leadership in Pakistan, further degrading its ability to mount terrorist attacks abroad. The terrorist organisation has seen its senior ranks thinned since Osama bin Laden was killed May 2 along with Atiyah Abd al-Rahman, the group’s No 2, in a CIA missile strike last month.

Pakistan’s public announcement of close cooperation with the US spy agency appeared aimed at reversing the widespread perception that ties between the CIA and Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence agency had been badly damaged by the US killing of bin Laden inside Pakistan.

The Pakistani military said the arrest of Mauritani and two other Qaeda operatives took place near the Afghan border in the southwestern city of Quetta, long known as a base for militants. It did not say when. The arrests were carried out in the past two weeks, according to a US official speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence matters.

Rare capture

The capture of an al-Qaeda operative inside Pakistan has become rare in recent years: most targets of CIA operations in the country have been killed by drone aircraft in a relentless series of operations that started to increase in 2008. His capture is likely to create chaos within al-Qaeda.